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The election took forever to be decided, but for many the controversy has not gone away. Bad feelings remain on both sides. Hopefully, there's one thing that everyone can agree on: that the political world lost some true giants in 2000, people who influenced our lives and who will be missed.

Some were key members of Congress, like Paul Coverdell, the quiet and unassuming Republican senator from Georgia who was George W. Bush's liaison with the Senate. There were House members like Bruce Vento (D-Minn.) and Herb Bateman (R-Va.), whose diligence on behalf of their constituents never wavered despite the cancer that was wracking their bodies. The terrible shock of losing Rep. Julian Dixon (D-Calif.), one of the most decent members of Congress I ever knew. And the tragic plane crash that took the life of Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, in the middle of a hotly contested Senate race, who improbably won the race three weeks after he died.

We lost a speaker (Carl Albert), an orator (John Pastore), a solid conservative (Carl Curtis) and a dedicated Communist (Gus Hall). A Democrat who wasn't always in sync with his party (Bob Casey) and a Republican who decided to flee his party roots (John Lindsay).

Presented here is a chronological list of those from the political world who died in 2000. As with my previous lists – see Jan. 7, 2000 and Jan. 4, 1999 columns – this one does not claim to be complete, but it includes many of those who improved our lives and made them more interesting. Their departure comes at a time when, more than ever, we sorely feel the dearth of statesmen.

Elmo Zumwalt, 79, the chief of naval operations during the Nixon administration and who was the Democratic nominee for the Senate in 1976 against Independent incumbent Harry Byrd Jr. (Jan. 2)

Henry Fowler, 91, Secretary of the Treasury under President Johnson. (Jan. 3)

Adam Yarmolinsky, 77, a strong liberal and one of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara's "whiz kids" during the Kennedy administration whose views on poverty and civil rights were anathema to Southern conservatives. (Jan. 5)

Thomas MacBride, 85, a former California state assemblyman who as a federal judge presided over the 1975 trial of would-be President Ford assassin Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme. (Jan. 6)

Robert Crosby, 88, a Nebraska Republican who was elected governor in 1952 and who sought the GOP nomination for a vacant Senate seat two years later but lost the primary to Rep. Carl Curtis. (Jan. 7)

Nackey Loeb, 75, the former publisher of the Manchester Union leader, an influential N.H. newspaper with conservative views, and the widow of Henry Loeb, who had bought the newspaper in the 1940s. (Jan. 8)

George Athanson, 72, whose five terms as Democratic mayor of Hartford (1971-81) was the longest tenure for that Connecticut city since 1812. (Jan. 9)

Gene Leahy, 70, a former mayor (1969-73) of Omaha. (Jan. 18)

John Chrystal, 74, a longtime advocate of peaceful relations between Washington and Moscow and who finished third in Iowa's 1990 Democratic gubernatorial primary. (Jan. 19)

Don Samuelson, 86, a one-term Republican governor of Idaho whose four years in office ended in a 1970 defeat at the hands of Cecil Andrus. (Jan. 20)

(Collection of Ken Rudin)

Carl Curtis, 94, a solid conservative during his Nebraska-record 40 years in Congress (House 1939-54, Senate 1954-78) who defended President Nixon throughout the Watergate investigation. (Jan. 24)
• Carl T. Curtis Dies at 94

Bob Squier, 65, a legendary Democratic media consultant who played a leading role in the two Clinton presidential victories. (Jan. 24)
• Robert Squier, Leading Political Consultant, Dies at 65
• Democrats Eulogize Political Pioneer Bob Squier

Dale Alford, 83, an Arkansas segregationist who was elected to Congress in 1958 on a write-in campaign. Alford, upset over the role of Rep. Brooks Hays (D) during the Little Rock school controversy, ran a write-in effort and defeated Hays in the general election. Alford held the seat until '62, when he finished third in the Democratic gubernatorial primary to Gov. Orval Faubus. He also lost the gov. primary in '66. (Jan. 25)

Edward Logue, 78, a fighter for urban renewal who ran for mayor of Boston in 1967 but, despite the endorsement of retiring Mayor John Collins, finished fourth. (Jan. 27)

Isidore Dollinger, 96, a New York Democrat who in 1948 unseated Rep. Leo Isacson of the American Labor Party and a Henry Wallace supporter, and served in the House until 1959, when he was elected district attorney of the Bronx. (Jan. 30)

Richard Kleindienst, 76, who became President Nixon's attorney general five days before the Watergate break-in and who, as an Arizona Republican leader aligned with Barry Goldwater, was the party's unsuccessful gubernatorial nominee in 1964. (Feb. 3)

(Collection of Ken Rudin)

Carl Albert, 91, whose 30 years in the House (1947-77) culminated with his elevation to majority leader in 1962 and Speaker in 1971. (Feb. 4)
• Ex-Speaker Carl Albert Dies at 91

Jimmy Green, 78, a Democrat who served two terms as lt. governor of North Carolina (1977-84) under Gov. Jim Hunt (D) and who was later convicted of tax evasion. (Feb. 4)

Harry Jackson, 84, a former mayor of Columbus, Georgia who sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 1974. (Feb. 12)

Ken Maddy, 65, whose 28 years in the California state legislature surrounded a failed 1978 bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, and whose tenure in office ended in '98 because of term limits. (Feb. 19)

Jeanne Simon, 77, a former Illinois member of the state Assembly who met and married a fellow Democratic legislator – Paul Simon. (Feb. 20)

Maurine Neuberger, 93, who was elected in 1960 to succeed her late husband Richard as a Democratic senator from Oregon and who served one term. She was the third woman in history to win a full term in the Senate. (Feb. 22)

Charles Wiggins, 72, a conservative House Republican from California who, while serving on the Judiciary Committee during Watergate, had a pivotal change of heart, going from Nixon defender to a supporter of impeachment. The shift led the way for other conservatives to break from the president as well. Wiggins served in the House from 1967 until his retirement in 1978, and later was appointed by President Reagan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. (March 2)
• Charles Wiggins, U.S. Appellate Judge, Dies

Edward Levi, 88, the U.S. Attorney General under President Ford. (March 7)

Bill Daniels, 79, a pioneer of the cable television industry who was a longtime Colorado GOP figure and who lost a bid for governor in the 1974 primary. (March 7)

Henry Middendorf, 77, a former vice chair of the New York Conservative Party and unsuccessful candidate for state Supreme Court judge. (March 9)

(Collection of Ken Rudin)

Malcolm Wilson, 86, who served for 15 years as New York's lieutenant governor (1959-73) under Nelson Rockefeller and then lost a chance to keep the governorship following Rocky's resignation. Wilson finally realized his dream of becoming governor in November 1973, when Rocky resigned. But the state by then was in a fiscal crisis and that, combined with the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, was too much for Wilson to overcome; he lost his bid for a full term in 1974 to Rep. Hugh Carey. (March 13)
• Malcolm Wilson, Former New York Governor, Dies

Joseph "Bo" Sullivan, 63, who finished third in the 1981 New Jersey Republican gubernatorial primary. (March 13)

Morris Abram, 81, one of the leading whites of the civil rights movement in the 1960s who later turned into a foe of affirmative action following a bitter experience as president of Brandeis University. Abram also lost a bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress in Georgia in the 1950s and was a Senate hopeful from New York in 1968. (March 16)

John Webb, a former state legislator from Virginia who was the Democratic nominee against Rep. Joel Broyhill (R) in 1954. (March 24)

Bill Christiansen, 86, a former (1973-76) Democratic lieutenant governor of Montana. (March 28)

William Hamilton, 61, a Democratic pollster who worked for presidential hopefuls Hubert Humphrey in 1968, Ed Muskie in '72, John Glenn in '84 and Bruce Babbitt in '88. (April 1)

John Rollins, 83, a former GOP lt. governor of Delaware who lost a 1960 bid for the governorship. (April 4)

John Alsop, 84, the brother of the late newspaper columnists Stewart and Joseph who was a former Connecticut state lawmaker and the state's unsuccessful Republican nominee for governor in 1962. (April 6)

Jeanie Austin, 66, the former co-chair of the Republican National Committee (1989-92) who served with Lee Atwater during the first Bush administration. (April 22)

Laurie Battle, 87, a conservative anti-Communist Alabama Democrat who unseated a member of Congress in the 1946 Dem primary and served until 1954, when he gave up his seat for an unsuccessful primary challenge to Sen. John Sparkman (D). He also sought the 1958 Democratic gubernatorial nomination. (May 2)

Donald Bollinger, 85, a former Louisiana Republican state chairman. (May 13)

Robert Knous, 82, a former Democratic lt. governor of Colorado whose attempt to move up in 1966 ended in a defeat to Gov. John Love. (May 15)

Margaret Driscoll, 85, a former Connecticut judge who was the Democratic nominee for Congress against Rep. Clare Boothe Luce in 1944. (May 16)

John Jacobs, 49, an award-winning political columnist for the Sacramento Bee and author of an acclaimed biography of the late Rep. Phil Burton. (May 24)

(Collection of Ken Rudin)

Robert Casey, 68, a former two-term governor of Pennsylvania who was a leading anti-abortion voice in the Democratic Party. Casey lost Democratic gubernatorial primaries in 1966, '70 and '78 before winning in 1986 (over Philadelphia D.A. Ed Rendell) and then going on to serve eight years as governor. His views on abortion kept him from speaking at the Democratic National Convention in 1992. (May 30)
• Ex-Pa. Gov. Casey Dies of Infection

Horace Busby, 76, a longtime associate of and White House aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson. (May 31)

John Coolidge, 93, the son of Calvin Coolidge, who had been the oldest living offspring of a president. (May 31)

William Simon, 72, the Treasury Secretary under Presidents Nixon and Ford. (June 3)

Blair Clark, a former CBS News journalist who served as the campaign manager during Sen. Eugene McCarthy's bid for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. (June 6)

Norman Erbe, 80, whose two-year tenure as the Republican governor of Iowa was ended by his 1962 defeat by Democrat Harold Hughes. (June 8)

Jeff MacNelly, 52, a Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist with the Chicago Tribune. (June 8)
• Cartoonist Jeff MacNelly Dies

Paul Hatfield, 72, who as chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court was appointed to the Senate following the Jan. '78 death of Sen. Lee Metcalf (D-Mont.) and who provided the 67th vote that ratified the Panama Canal treaty. Hatfield's tenure ended just months after his appointment when, following his unpopular vote on the treaty, he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Rep. Max Baucus, who still serves. (July 3)
• Paul Hatfield Dies

William Randall, 90, a conservative Missouri Democrat who served 18 years (1959-76) in Congress. (July 7)

(Collection of Ken Rudin)

John Pastore, 93, a former Rhode Island lieutenant governor (1945), governor (1945-50) and senator (1951-76) whose booming oratory led to his becoming the keynote speaker at the 1964 Democratic national convention. Pastore was the first Italian American elected governor or senator. (July 15)
• Sen. John O. Pastore, 93, Dies
• Former R.I. Senator John O. Pastore Dies (AP)

Leo Hoegh, 92, a one-term (1955-56) Republican governor of Iowa who after his defeat in 1956 was named President Eisenhower's director of Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization. (July 15)

Paul Coverdell, 61, the senior senator from Georgia and the Senate's fourth-ranking Republican. Coverdell, who unseated Sen. Wyche Fowler (D) in a 1992 runoff and won a second term in '98, was George W. Bush's point man in the Senate. (July 18)
• Sen. Paul Coverdell Dies at 61

Tom Maloney, 58, a former mayor of Wilmington who was the Democratic nominee for the Senate in Delaware against GOP incumbent William Roth (R) in 1976. (July 19)

James Morrison, 91, a Democratic congressman from Louisiana (1943-66) until his vote in favor of the Voting Rights Act led to his defeat in the 1966 primary by a segregationist judge, John Rarick. (July 20)

Raymond Broderick, 86, a former federal judge and Pennsylvania's GOP lt. governor under Ray Shafer who attempted to succeed his boss in 1970 but lost to Milton Shapp (D). (Aug. 6)

Thomas Foran, 76, the prosecutor in the Chicago Seven conspiracy trial that resulted from the riots at the '68 Democratic convention, who was defeated for the Dem nomination for governor of Illinois in 1972. (Aug. 6)

Lawrence Cooke, 85, the former chief judge of the New York State Court of Appeals. (Aug. 17)

Marion Bennett, 86, who succeeded his late father as a Republican member of Congress from Missouri in 1943 and held the seat until President Truman led the Democratic ticket in 1948. (Sept. 6)

Herbert Bateman, 72, a Virginia Republican congressman whose decade-long battle with cancer led him to announce his retirement earlier in the year. Bateman was a conservative Democrat in the state Senate who switched to the GOP in 1976. In 1982, he won the House seat vacated by Republican Paul Trible, who was elected to the Senate. (Sept. 11)
• Rep. Herbert Bateman Dies at 72

Joe Skubitz, 93, a Republican who represented Kansas in the House from 1963 until his retirement in '78. (Sept. 11)

George Christopher, 92, the last Republican mayor of San Francisco (1956-64) who lost the 1966 California GOP gubernatorial primary to Ronald Reagan as well as a Senate primary bid in '58. (Sept. 14)
• George Christopher, Former San Francisco Mayor, Dies

Frank Wills, 52, the night watchman who discovered the famous June 17, 1972 break-in at the Watergate office building that led to the resignation of a president. (Sept. 27)

James "Mike" McKevitt, 71, a Colorado Republican whose one-term career in Congress (1971-72) was ended by his 1972 defeat to Pat Schroeder. (Sept. 28)

Sidney Yates, 91, a longtime Democratic member of the House from Chicago (1949-62, 1965-98) whose career was briefly interrupted by an unsuccessful run against Sen. Everett Dirksen (R) in 1962. (Oct. 5)
• Longtime Congressman Sidney Yates Dies

William P. Bundy, 83, a leading Vietnam adviser to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. (Oct. 6)

John Connor, 85, President Johnson's Commerce Secretary (1965-67) who resigned over the conduct of the Vietnam War. (Oct. 6)

Charles Yates, 61, a former New Jersey state assemblyman who lost two bids for Congress against Rep. Edwin Forsythe (R) in 1970 and '74. (Oct. 6)

E.S. Johnny Walker, 89, a two-term (1965-68) Democratic congressman from New Mexico. (Oct. 8)

Timothy Sheehan, 91, whose eight years in Congress as an Illinois Republican ended with a 1958 defeat by Roman Pucinski (D) and who was defeated in a bid for mayor of Chicago the following year by Mayor Richard J. Daley. (Oct. 8)

Bob Bennett, 73, a one-term (1975-78) GOP governor of Kansas. (Oct. 9)

Bruce Vento, 60, a Minnesota Democratic congressman whose advancing lung cancer led him to announce earlier this year that he would not seek a 13th House term. (Oct. 10)
• Minnesota Rep. Bruce Vento Dies

Oscar Mauzy, 73, a former Texas Democratic senator and state Supreme Court justice. (Oct. 10)

(Collection of Ken Rudin)

Gus Hall, 90, the longtime general secretary of the Communist Party USA and its four-time presidential candidate, beginning in 1972. (Oct. 13)
• Communist Activist Gus Hall Dies

Theodore Berry, 94, whose election as mayor of Cincinnati in 1971 made him the first African-American to hold the post. (Oct. 15)

(Collection of Ken Rudin)

Mel Carnahan, 66, Missouri's governor and Democratic Senate nominee who lost his life in a plane crash and who nevertheless became the first person in history to win a Senate race posthumously. After his victory over GOP Sen. John Ashcroft, his widow Jean was appointed to serve until a 2002 special election. (Oct. 16)
• Missouri Mourns Its Governor

Samuel Pierce, 78, whose long career as one of the nation's most successful African-American attorneys ended in disgrace over corruption scandals that plagued his department when he was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Presidents Reagan and (briefly) Bush, forcing him to resign in 1989. (Oct. 31)
• HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce Jr., 78, Dies

Charles Jewett, 87, a Connecticut Republican who was elected lt. governor in 1954. (Nov. 3)

Jimmie Davis, 101 (?), a Louisiana Democrat who won two separate terms as governor (in 1944 and 1960) and was known as the state's "Singing Governor" for his song-writing talents, notably "You Are My Sunshine." (Nov. 5)

Hosea Williams, 74, a civil rights pioneer who worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and who lost a bid for the Democratic Senate nomination from Georgia in 1972. (Nov. 16)

Paul Brown, 85, who as state Attorney General lost the 1970 Republican primary for governor of Ohio. (Nov. 17)

Charles Ruff, 61, the former Watergate special prosecutor and later the White House counsel who led the Clinton defense team during the president's impeachment proceedings. (Nov. 19)
• Lawyer Charles F.C. Ruff Dies

Henry Gonzalez, 84, a 37-year veteran House Democrat (1961-98) who came to Congress in 1961 and who as chair of the Banking Committee investigated various savings and loan scandals. An unsuccessful candidate in a special 1961 Senate race and the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1958, he retired from the House in 1998 and was succeeded by his son, Charlie, who still serves. (Nov. 28)

Julian Dixon, 66, a California Democrat whose tenure in the House since 1979 (32nd District) included a stint as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and who won widespread acclaim when he chaired the ethics committee during the investigation of then-Speaker Jim Wright (D) in 1989. (Dec. 8)
• Rep. Julian Dixon Dies

Marvin Leath, 69, a conservative Democrat who won an open Texas congressional seat in 1978 and served until his retirement in 1990. (Dec. 8)

Allan Howe, 73, a former one-term Democratic congressman from Utah (1975-77), whose defeat in 1976 to Dan Marriott was attributed to his arrest earlier that year for soliciting sex acts from two undercover policewomen. (Dec. 14)

(Collection of Ken Rudin)

John Lindsay, 79, whose political career in New York took him from a House seat in Manhattan (1959-65) to become the city's first Republican mayor since Fiorello LaGuardia when he was elected in 1965, but who failed in two subsequent campaigns after he switched to the Democratic Party. Lindsay's tenure as mayor, often chaotic but always colorful, began with a crippling subway strike the moment he was sworn in. Charismatic and adored by the black community, but distrusted and scorned by labor and many middle-class whites, he lost the GOP nomination for renomination in 1969 to a conservative but won a three-way race in the general election as the candidate of the Liberal and Independent parties. He switched to the Dems in 1971 and attempted a very visible but ultimately disastrous bid for the presidential nomination in 1972. He did not seek a third term in '73, but ran and lost for the Democratic Senate nomination in 1980. (Dec. 19)
• Two-Term New York Mayor John V. Lindsay Dies at 79

Richard Bergholz, 83, the Los Angeles Times political reporter widely thought to be the target of Richard Nixon's famous "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore" outburst following his defeat in the 1962 governor's race. (Dec. 26)

William Ayres, 84, a former 10-term (1951-70) Republican congressman from Ohio long targeted by organized labor who was finally defeated in 1970. (Dec. 27)
• William Ayres, Longtime Ohio Congressman, Dies

Jim Corman, 80, a 10-term (1961-80) Democratic congressman from California whose loss in 1980 to Republican Bobbi Fiedler was attributed in part to the early concession of President Jimmy Carter. (Dec. 30)

Alan Cranston, 86, a four-term (1969-92) senator from California who sought the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination and whose career came to an inglorious end as one of the Keating Five in the savings-and-loan scandal of that name. Cranston, a strong liberal and disarmament advocate who served as state Controller, lost to Pierre Salinger in the 1964 Democratic Senate primary. Four years later he was the beneficiary of a divisive Republican primary to win the first of four Senate contests against Max Rafferty. He was one of five senators who were tarred by their association with Lincoln S&L president Charles Keating, who went to prison on securities fraud charges. (Dec. 31)
• California Sen. Alan Cranston, 86, Dies

Got a question? Ask Ken Rudin: junkie@washingtonpost.com

Ken Rudin, political editor at National Public Radio, is also the creator of washingtonpost.com's ScuttleButton contest.